The St. Thomas men’s soccer team (16-3-2) is headed to the NCAA Division III Sweet Sixteen for the third year in a row after a sweeping 5-0 win Sunday at South Field against Wisconsin Superior (19-3-1).

The Tommies started the game off in attack mode, with forward Luke Horton scoring 36 seconds into play.

“It was important and set the tone,” Horton said. “We didn’t come into this game expecting to score four goals in the first 25 minutes, but it’s tournament time and anything can happen.”

Defender Halvor Houg chipped a shot into the right corner of the net in the 14th minute of play off an assist from defender Jack Berry.

Four minutes later, forward Jake Amey scored off an assist from midfielder Scott Cloe.

Houg scored once again, cleaning up a shot that was deflected by the Yellowjackets keeper, giving him three goals this weekend.

“My role as a defender is the most important, but it feels good to impact the game on both sides,” Houg said.

Coach Jon Lowery said the team started to get a bit messy in the last 20 minutes of the first half, since being up 4-0 was a bit of shock for the Tommies.

“We had a good conversation at halftime, and I think the guys responded well,” Lowery said. “We were organized in the second half and took on their pressure.”

The game included seven yellow cards, three for each team, and one red card from a Yellowjackets player.

“We are all pretty physical,” Cloe said. “It wasn’t anything that we couldn’t handle and wasn’t anything we weren’t used to.”

Only a short list of schools have made it the Sweet Sixteen three years in a row.

“Three in a row is just amazing, but that’s not our destination,” Lowery said. “That’s hopefully just a great stop along the way.”

Lowery believes his team is more than ready to take a crack at the best teams in the NCAA Division III tournament.

“I’m really proud of the guys, our staff and how we have put this together,” Lowery said. “We have nothing to fear and I think we bring a lot of things that can win more tournament games.”

The Tommies play Luther College (18-3-1) Saturday at the University of Chicago.

Carly Noble can be reached at nobl1781@stthomas.edu